The Streets of Downtown Vancouver

The “Streets of Downtown Vancouver” Project will be an on-going project that will be a photography journal of Vancouver’s Downtown core and will culminate in a number of books.

I started documenting mostly Downtown Vancouver as the locations was part of my daily routine. After photographing it constantly over a number of years, I figured it was time to compile them into an archive. Vancouver is an amazing and beautiful port city and the Downtown core reflects this and it’s diversity quite well.

Inspired by the work of Sebastio Salgado and also that of the famous Vancouver Photographer Fred Herzog, I set out to capture the life of Vancouver as it happened. I wanted to create dynamic imagery that really captured what was happening at the time. Vancouver is such a diverse and vibrant city and yet I found myself constantly walking some of the same paths, only departing occasionally to try something new and hopefully find a new angle.

For me, the beauty of Vancouver and its Downtown Core is in the small details that make up Vancouver life. Whether it be the sun light beaming across the large columns at the entrance of Waterfront Station or the snow coming down in a blustery blizzard all of a sudden or even the days when it rains (which is almost all the time on the West Coast!), I like to keep my camera ready and see what little moments of life I can document.

My hope is that one day, people will look back at the photographs taken and see a Vancouver so very different from the one that will probably exist in the future. Looking at photos of Vancouver in the 1970s has made me realize how precious these photos are as they become time capsules of what has been and give us a perspective on what is now and what could be in the future.